Railroad-rail joint.



Mar. 21, 1901 (No Model.)

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARDIJ. MCOARTY, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

RAILROAD-RAIL JOINT.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of I'nsttels Patent N0. 678,006, dated July 9, 1901. y

Application filed March 21, 1901. Serial No. 52,226. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, RICHARD J. MCCARTY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Railroad-Rail Joints,of which the following is a specification.

The meeting ends of railroad-rails are now generally secured and supported by splicebars applied to opposite sides ofthe rails in position to bridge the joints' and rest upon at least two cross-ties and secured to the rails by bolts passing through holes in the splicebars and the webs of the rails. the parts are sulciently larger than the bolts so that the bolts may be easily inserted and so as to allow for the expansion and contrac-` tion of the rails under changes of temperature; but this contraction and expansion of the rails causes each rail at the joint to slide back and forth between the splice-bars, and this sliding, which takes place between surfaces that are not perfectly smooth and true, will within a short time cause abrasion of points of contact, and thus loosen the joint. Moreover, there is formed in a short time throughout the joint rust, which the sliding motion disintegrates, and this causes additional tendency to loosen the joint. As soon as a joint becomes loose or begins to loosen the stiness at the joint becomes reduced, undue strains are brought to bear upon the ties supporting the respective rail ends, and said 'ties sink to an eX-tent causing un'eveness in the track and which then rapidly increases under the hammering actionof the wheels passing over the impaired joint. The continuous existence of the above-described effects necessitates constant attention to railways at great expense.

My invention aims to counteract vat a i'easonable expense the aforesaid conditions, and by securing improvements in thepermanence and stability of railroad-rail joints reduce the cost of maintenance of Way, as will be fully understood upon reference to the accompanying drawings, which represent the preferred embodiment of my invention, and in which- Figure l is a horizontal section lof a railjoint in the plane of the bolts; Fig. 2, aver- The holes in i tical section through one of the bolts; Fig. 3,

D represents speciallyfconstructed bolts,

and E are nuts screwed upon both ends of said bolts.

Each splice-bar Bis provided at one end with two or more tightly-fitting openings l and at its other end with two or more looselyfitting openings 2, while the rail-webs are provided with tightly-fitting openings 3. The

bolts D are formed with tightly-fitting endsv 4, which are preferably driven into the openings l of the splice-bars and openings 3 of the rail-webs, and with loosely-fitting ends 5, that enter the openings 2 of the splice-bars and have such a fit vtherein as will permit the boltswhen moved by the rail to move horizontally in said openings 2. This it ispref- 'Y erably made loose only in a horizontal direction by having the loosely-litting end 5 of the bolt elliptical, yfor the purposes to be eX- plained. Each bolt is provided with two threaded ends 6, that receive the nuts E. In

order that'one end of each splice-bar may be locked rigidly and immovablyito a rail end, each bolt is'provided with a shoulder 7, that engages the side of the web opposite or away from the tightly-fitting end of the bolt, so that 'f by screwing up the nut E on the said tightly fitting end the splice-bar on that side and at that end may be locked, as described, independently ofthe opposite splice-bar or the nut on theopposite loosely-fitting end of the bolt. One end of each splice-bar being thus rigidly combined with each of the meeting'` ends `of the rails, the other ends of said splice-bars overlap the rail end abutting that which the v splice-bar is combined with and rests upon the cross-tie beneath said. abutting end.:V In this way, should the'nuts on the loosely-'fitting ends of the bolts become loose, each rail will still have its splice-bar practically forming a l l continuation of the rail andbridging the joint,

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turning in that opening when either nut isA screwed up tight. This form of bolt is shown more clearly in Figs. 5 and 6, While its sections on the line a a of the tightly-fitting end, the line Z7 b of the loosely-fitting end just behind the enlargement 7, and on the line c c within the opening 2 may be seen in Fig. 4. j

This form of bolt has the further advantage of strengthening the shoulder against the tension imposed by the nut on the tightly-fitting end of the bolt and stiffening the section of the bolt against the shearing or bending action of the sliding splice-bar.

I do not limit myself to any particular form j of bolt nor any special manner of arranging the `parts to be united. The fundamental feature of my invention is rigidly 'securing each splice-bar by any suitable means atene end to a rail-section to make it practically an extension of said rail, while the other end of each splice-bar extends at least tothenext tie or support and is secured with the vordinary t l u n v sion of each rail to the next tie beyond its sliding action with the abutting rail.

The manner of Aassembling the parts is as follows: The bolts are inserted in the rail ends by driving their tightly-fitting portions into the holes of the web of the rail until th eir shoulders are tightly held in contact with said web, similarlends of said bolts projecting in opposite directions in the respective rails. The splice-bars are then successively placed in position to bring their tightly-fitting holes coinciding with and forced over the tightly-fitting bolt ends, and the ,nuts at the ti ghtly-fitting ends of the bolts are screwed down as firmly as is practicable, andwith the assistance of the pressure from the nuts and blows from a hammer the splice -bars are forced to their seats. nuts are screwed on loosely-fitting bolt ends and the Whole joint made tight. When the joint shall have been completed as above or by other procedure equally practicable, the parts of the splice-bars contiguous tto the tightly-fitting ends of the bolts will be rigidly and immovably attached to sides of the respective rails, while the other part of each splice-bar will be free to move longitudinally along the opposing rail end, which it overlaps by reason of the diameters or horizontal dimensions of the bolts securingvsaid overlapping ends of the splice-bars being less than and therefore loosely fitting the horizontal This being done, the.

diameter of the holes in said splice-bar ends. The rigid attachment of one part of each splice-bar to the rail, as aforesaid, is practically equivalent to an extension of the rail itself pastthe joint to a tie or ties upon which the abutting rail rests. There being no motion between the splice-bar and the rail lwhere this rigid connection ismade, the tendency of the nuts on the tightly-fitting bolt ends to work loose will be reduced to a minimum. If the joint is properly applied, the action of rust along the surfaces of rigid movable contact will be practically eliminated. The effect of this will be to constantly preserve in great measure the rigidity of the joint, and thus constantly protect the ties from the bad effects of loose joints. Furthermore, it is evident that in case the nuts at the endsA of the bolt should become loose the `rigidity of the joint will be but slightly impaired.

The shape of the intermediate shoulder or enlargement in the bolt is preferably about that shown in the drawings, but may be of any other shape that'would be more convenientfor manufacture, While still serving the intended purpose'. 'lhe material of the bolt should be as soft as is consistent with sufficient ten'si'le strength, so that the bolts may be more easily driven into position. t

Y I have shown my invention applied to what is known as a swinging joint-x-that is to say', a joint `in which the rails abut between two ties,with a splice-bar extending from one tie tothe other, so as to make a rigid extenend-f-b'ut it is obvious that my invention is equallyv applicable to a joint in which the splicebars extend over more than two ties, and thus provide a rigid extension of the rail to several ties beyond the end of the rail, if desired, which would 4probably be the case wherek roads are constructed over the soft mat terial usually encountered in low countries. In the perfect splice-joint and the one which itis theaim of my invention to produce the saine rigiditylis obtained at the joint as at any other portion of the rail. If the joint is not suciently rigid, it will of course go down.,v On the other hand, if 'the joint should bel made stiffer than the other portion of the rail the middle of the rail will go down, in-

stances of the latter condition having fre- IOO IIO

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at one of its ends to one rail end and having its other end overlapping and slidingly connected to the abutting rail end.

2. In a rail-joint the combination of the abutting rails, the opposed supporting splicebars bridging the joint between said rails and the bolts passing through said splice-bars and rails; said bolts having tightly-fitting ends passing through the rail-webs and one end of each splice-bar rigidly and immovably connecting said end of each splice-bar to a rail end, and having loosely-fitting ends passing,

through and slidingly or movably securing the other end of each splice-bar to the abutting rail which it overlaps.

3. In a rail-joint, thel combination of abutting rails, opposed supporting splice bars bridging the joint between said rails, and bolts in the respective rails having shoulders engaging the rail-webs, bolt ends projecting in one direction from said shoulders, passing through and tightly fitting openings in said rail-webs and passing through and tightly fitting openings in an. adjacent end of the splice-bar, and rigidly or immovably securing it to the rail, and bolt endsprojecting in the other direction from said shoulders passing through and loosely fitting openings in the projecting and overlapping ends of the rigidly-attached splice-bars, thereby slidingly connecting each of the latter to the abutting rail.

4. In a rail-joint, the combination of the abutting rails, the opposed splice-bars bridging the joint between said rails and bolts securing the respective ends of each splice-bar to the abutting rails, the one movably and the other immovably, the moVably-connected endof one splice-bar being opposed to the inumovably-connected end of the other splicebar; said bolts being formed each with an intermediate shoulder engaging the rail-web,

and with tightly and loosely fitting ends, proj ecting in opposite directions from said shou1- der and provided with nuts for the purpose set forth.

5. In combination with abutting rails and opposed bridging splice-bars, bolts, each enftending through the rails andhaving its end litting respectively, tightly and loosely in openings in the splice-bars and secured by nuts on both said ends, and an 'intermediate shoulder engaging the rail=web in opposition to the nut on the tightly-fitting end and having its loosely-fitting end flattened to secure it against turning.

RICHARD J. MCCARTY.

Witnesses:

f J. M. BERNARDIN,

H. BQJOHNSON. 

